The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About84-009 AfflerbachRoy C. Afflerbach, Member House of Representatives Commonwealth of Pennsylvania House P.O. Box 113 Main Capitol Building Harrisburg, PA 17120 II. Factual Basis for Determination: STATE ETHICS COMMISSION 308 FINANCE BUILDING HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA 17120 OPINION OF THE COMMISSION May 15, 1984 RE: Commercial Spokesman, Financial Gain to Others Dear Representative Afflerbach: I. Issue: 84 -009 You ask whether you may, consistent with the Ethics Act, act as a commercial spokesman for a specific group. You currently serve as an elected Representative from the 131st Legislative District in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. You ask whether you may, as an elected State Representative, act as a commercial spokesman for a specific group, hereinafter, the Group. You would act as spokesman in an effort to bring about public action on matters of interests to the Group. Your efforts and this public action, if successful, could be reasonably expected to provide financial gain to the members of the Group. We note that you do not indicate and we will not assume, for purposes of this Opinion, that the Group is a "business" with which you are "associated" as those terms are defined in the Ethics Act. Likewise, you have not indicated and we will not assume that you are being paid or that you will receive other renumeration for your activities as a commercial spokesman for the Group. Finally, you have not indicated and we will not assume that you hold any position within this group or that you are a director, officer, owner or holder of stock exceeding 5% of the equity of fair market value of this Group if this Group is to be considered a "business" as that term is defined in the State Ethics Act. Roy C. Afflerbach, Member May 15, 1984 Page 2 III. Applicable Law: The law to be applied to this question is as follows: IV. Discussion : Section 1. Purpose. The Legislature hereby declares that public office is a public trust and that any effort to realize personal financial gain through public office other than compensation provided by law is a violation of that trust. In order to strengthen the faith and confidence of the people of the State in their government, the Legislature further declares that the people have a right to be assured that the financial interests of holders of or candidates for public office present neither a conflict nor the appearance of a conflict with the public trust. Because public confidence in government can best be sustained by assuring the people of the impartiality and honesty of public officials, this act shall be liberally construed to promote complete disclosure. 65 P.S. 401. Section 3. Restricted activities. (a) No public official or public employee shall use his public office or any confidential information received through his holding public office to obtain financial gain other than compensation provided by law for himself, a member of his immediate family, or a business with which he is associated. 65 P.S. 403(a). (b) No person shall offer or give to a public official or public employee or candidate for public office or a member of his immediate family or a business with which he is associated, and no public official or public employee or candidate for public office shall solicit or accept, anything of value, including a gift, loan, political contribution, reward, or promise of future employment based on any understanding that the vote, official action, or judgment of the public official or public employee or candidate for public office would be influenced thereby. 65 P.S. 403(b). As an elected Representative in the House of Representatives of this Commonwealth you are a "public official" as that term is defined in the State Ethics Act. See 65 P.S. 402. As such, your conduct must conform to the requirements of the State Ethics Act. Roy C. Afflerbach, Member May 15, 1984 Page 3 As we perceive the question you raise, you ask whether you may engage in acting as a spokesman for this Group. However, you have not indicated the nature of your relationship with this Group, the nature of the "public action" that this Group is seeking, or whether the action the Group seeks is to be undertaken by the House of Representatives in which you serve or otherwise. As such, your question is a very general one and must be answered in a very general manner. Generally, as an elected public official, you are required, as are all public officials, to avoid conflicts of interest and the appearance of a conflict of interest with the public trust. The Ethics Act, however, does not contain any per se restriction on your activity as an elected representative vis -a -vis this Group, particularly given the assumptions set forth in the factual portion of this Opinion. See Part II above. Likewise, the Ethics Act does not generally restrict your ability to undertake and perform your duties and responsibilities as an elected representative absent the use of your public office or confidential information gained through your office to obtain financial gain other than the compensation provided by law for yourself or a member of your immediate family or a business with which you are associated. Thus, the fact that this particular Group might, if successful in their efforts, receive financial gain, does not necessarily indicate that your activities vis -a -vis this Group would constitute a violation of the Ethics Act. It is also important to note that you have not indicated the nature of the "public action" or the extent to which you are associated with this Group. Absent some specific information, we cannot say that the Ethics Act places restrictions upon your freedom to associate with this specific Group. However, this is not to say that the right of a public official to "act as a commercial spokesman" and then vote on particular matters, for example, is totally unrestricted. Our response in such a case, would depend upon the nature of your relationship to the Group as spokesman or otherwise, the extent to which you may or may not receive personal financial gain as a result of your activities, the "precise nature of the public action" that this Group seeks, the extent to which you would utilize public resources or facilities, to undertake your activities as "commercial spokesman ", etc. Incidentally, we note that the Ethics Act, under certain circumstances, may place restrictions upon your activity but this Act is not the only limitation on the official actions of a member of the Legislature. For example, a legislator who may have a personal or private interest in a measure or bill pending before the General Assembly, is prohibited by the Constitution's Article III, Section 13 from voting thereon. Roy C. Afflerbach, Member May 15, 1984 Page 4 Without more information we cannot provide a definitive response to your question. There are circumstances under which the activity which you propose could, conceivably, violate the letter or the spirit of the Ethics Act. However, we can state that the Ethics Act does not generally prohibit a public official from undertaking any activity which is not clearly adverse to the interests which he is to serve as a public official, which do not constitute a use of his public office or confidential information obtained through your public office to obtain financial gain other than the compensation provided by law for himself, or which will enure to the benefit of a member of his immediate family or a business with which he is associated. Absent such circumstances, in general, acting as a spokesman for a specific group would not, necessarily, violate the provisions of the Ethics Act. V. Conclusion: The Ethics Act contains no specific prohibition against the activity which you have outlined generally above. However, there are circumstances which we could conceive that a violation of the Ethics Act might arise. We suggest that should you have further details which you wish to submit to us for our review or should you actually seek to engage in such conduct, that you provide a further request for advice or opinion to us which can then be answered with reference to specific facts and circumstances. Pursuant to Section 7(9)(i), this opinion is a complete defense in any enforcement proceeding initiated by the Commission, and evidence of good faith conduct in any civil or criminal proceeding, providing the requestor has disclosed truthfully all the material facts and committed the acts complained of in reliance of the advice given. SSC /rdp This letter is a public record and will be made available as such. Finally, any person may request within 15 days of service of the opinion that the Commission reconsider its opinion. The person requesting reconside- ration should present a detailed explanation setting forth the reasons why the opinion requires reconsideration. By the Commission, �Aut Chai rma